Putting our lives back together
by EmilyTheSilentAssassin
Summary: It'll get more pg-13 later. Nick and Sara have a seven year old daughter together, they're living together even though they're not SERIOUSLY involved with each other. Sara meets someone and decides to marry him. Can Nick win her back in time?
1. chapter 1

A/N: I don't own CSI, Halo, Xbox, or anything else in here. I do however own Emily Sidle-Stokes as she is a total figment of my imagination. Oh, and for time purposes, just assume that Microsoft released a new version of the Xbox and a new version of Halo or something. Also, there really was a movie with George Eads on TNT called Evel.  
  
Chapter One: The arrangement  
  
"Bye bye Emily." Sara Sidle hugged her daughter. "I'll see you in the morning. Go to bed on time, okay?"  
"Okay mommy." Nine-year-old Emily Sidle-Stokes nodded solemnly. "I promise." She turned to her dad. "Bye daddy."  
"Bye honey. I made dinner for you. Just heat it up in the microwave."  
"Kay."  
Nick Stokes gazed at his precocious daughter for a moment before he turned. "Okay Sar, ready to go?"  
"Yep."  
Emily had been an accident, an unplanned bump on the road of Sara and Nick's life. When she was born, Nick had suggested that Sara live with him so that Emily could be raised by both her parents and not have to be shuttled between two houses. He said that since they were friends there was no reason why it couldn't work out.  
Sara had agreed and said arrangement had been working for the past seven years. Without Emily's knowledge they'd also come to another agreement. Nick and Sara would help each other through dry spells, no strings attached. This also seemed to work well. Sara barely even commented when Nick had a date except to say congratulations, don't wake Emily. Nick had added on a room for Sara when she'd moved in, his bedroom was only a two bedroom house. Fortunately he'd had the foresight to put her room on the other end of the house. Sara was glad the arrangement was working out.  
"Hey, so did I tell you, I'm going out next week with that hot new lab tech Greggo's training."  
"That's great." Sara smiled. "Oh, can you watch Emily on Friday and Saturday night? Friday Cath and I are going out and Saturday I'm going out with Mike."  
"Em's teacher?" Nick's head whipped sideways.  
"Don't act so surprised Nick, he's a very nice man. Not bad looking either. Plus, we've already moved past the 'I've got a kid, do you like kids?' thing. So, can you or can't you watch Em?"  
"Yeah sure." The two rode the rest of the way to CSI in silence.  
She's going out with Em's TEACHER? Nick thought incredulously. Oh boy.  
  
6 months later  
  
Nick had known this was going to happen. He and Sara would drift apart. Sara would date other men, he'd been dating other women for a while. He just hadn't expected her to get so serious about one guy. The difference between him and Sara was that all of his dates had resulted in one-night stands away from his house. He'd enjoyed the sex, but there was nothing of substance, no real relationship. Sara's dates had either never gotten to sex, as she'd informed him bitterly while she lay in his bed after a particularly awful date, or as with Mike, they were pretty serious. After her experience with Hank, she'd been skeptical to get so serious with Emily's teacher until Nick had volunteered to do some investigating. He'd hoped to reveal something that would keep Sara from getting too close, but unfortunately for him, Mike was a stand-up kind of guy.  
Nick didn't want to lose Sara. He didn't want to admit it, but deep down he loved her. Not just friendship love either, he was in love with her.  
"Hey Nick, thanks for watching Em tonight. I'll be back at around 11, maybe later." She grabbed her coat and slipped on heels, bringing her to just 3 inches below Mike's height of 6'2".  
"Yeah, hey, have a good time, and don't forget, you owe me."  
"Hey, you're her parent too." Sara looked at him disbelievingly. "And don't tell me you and Em weren't gonna play Halo on your new Xbox." Nick's guilty look confirmed her suspicions. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Don't play it too much. Oh hey, I found a babysitter for next week when we're both out."  
"I know. Cath told me she's dropping Lindsay off around seven."  
"Perfect." Sara rushed out the door.  
  
Nick should have gone to bed, but he couldn't fall asleep. He lay on the couch, watching some movie on TNT. "Evel Knievel." He muttered. "Always liked that dude."  
"Daddy?" He heard a tiny voice coming from the hallway.  
"Em?" He switched off the TV. "What's up baby? How come you're up this late. You've got school tomorrow."  
"Where's mommy?" Emily stared at him with her big brown eyes.  
"Mommy's out right now."  
"Is she out with Mike?"  
Nick sighed. Boy his Emily was a smart girl. "Yes she is. She'll be home later. I'll tell her to give you a kiss goodnight, kay?"  
Emily shook her head. "I don't want her going out with him. I like you daddy. I want her to marry you."  
"Em, honey, we already discussed this. Your mommy and I both made a decision that we would raise you together, but we just weren't right for each other."  
"But I don't want her to go out with Mike." Emily's voice was rising.  
"Em, don't you like Mike?"  
"NO!" Em shouted. "HE'S GOING TO TAKE MOMMY AWAY FROM YOU AND ME." She buried her head into Nick's shoulder and burst into tears. At that moment, Sara walked in. "Mommy!" Emily scurried off of Nick's lap and threw herself into Sara's arms.  
"Hi baby." What's going on? She mouthed to Nick.  
I don't know. We'll talk after she goes back to sleep. It was only then that Nick noticed the flash of gold on her right hand. Was that an engagement ring? Oh God, Emily wouldn't be at all happy about that. "Em, you've got school tomorrow. Mommy and I will come in and kiss you goodnight in a minute, okay."  
Emily sniffled. "Fine, but if I don't see you guys in three minutes, I'm coming out here to look for you."  
"Agreed. Alright munchkin, go get under the covers. Daddy and I'll be right in to tuck you in." Emily nodded and went to her room. "Alright Nick, mind telling me why Emily just had a minor breakdown and practically bowled me over?"  
"She doesn't want you to go out with Mike." He pointed to her finger. "I doubt she'll be very pleased about that either."  
"Oh God, why didn't she say something sooner?" Sara sank onto the couch.  
"She doesn't want you to be unhappy."  
"What do you think, Nick?"  
"I'm not getting involved in this."  
In truth, Nick didn't want Sara to marry Mike. He thought back to Emily's outburst. 'He'll take Mommy away from you and me.' She'd said. Nick sighed. Maybe Emily was even smarter than they gave her credit for. 


	2. chapter 2

A/N: I don't own shit. I'm getting so fed up with the total lack of Nick/Sara and I'm really fed up with my siblings. I think I'm going to wrap it up in this chapter.

Chapter Two: Doubts and Resolutions

"Goodnight baby." Sara kissed her daughter's forehead.

"Night mommy. Night daddy." Emily tugged the covers up to her chin, the way she'd done since she was three and turned on her side. "I love you guys."

"We love you too baby." Nick flicked off the lights in his daughter's room and walked with Sara out to the living room. "So." Nick gestured to the ring. "You wanna talk about that."

Sara sighed. "Emily really doesn't like Mike?"

"She likes Mike fine." Nick shrugged. "She just hasn't yet outgrown the idea that one day we'll get back together."

"We've explained to her at least fifty times that you and I love each other, we're just not in love."

"I understand."

"How am I going to tell Emily?" Sara's voice was heavy. "Nick, I can't marry him if it makes Emily unhappy."

"Emily will get used to Mike as her stepdad, I'm sure." Nick was comforting.

Sara could feel the doubt rising in her. "Nick, what if I'm not making the right decision?" She stared into his eyes. "What if...why couldn't we...why didn't we make it work?" She finally said.

"I don't know."

"Did we just give up when it got hard?"

"Kind of."

Sara rested her head on Nick's shoulder. "Why'd we give up? What if I wasn't meant to be with Mike, Nick?"

"Sara, what are you saying?" Nick's voice was choked.

"It's been in front of me this whole time." Sara muttered. "Why I never got into a relationship. Why something has felt wrong with Mike this entire time. It's been in front of me this whole time. Oh Nick, what if we were supposed to be together?"

Nick was silent. "Sara, I'm not engaged. I'm going to be gut-wrenchingly honest here. I love you. I always have. I would die for you and Emily, and if there were a way for you and I to work, I would try my hardest. But you _are_ engaged, and I can't be the other man and if it doesn't work out, I don't want to ruin your relationship with Mike. I can't make the decision here Sara. It has to be you. You have to decide whether you're ready to give up Mike and give it a try with me or whether it's not worth the risk."

Tears were rolling down Sara's cheeks. She didn't even have to think about it. Slowly, she slid the engagement ring off. "There never was another choice, Nick. You're worth the risk a million times over."

"Sara, are you sure?"

"I miss _us_, Nick. I miss walking into the lab, holding hands. I miss sneaking off to make out. I miss being in love Nick."

"I miss us too, Sara."

"I guess I'll give the ring back then."

"You can still say no. You could still marry Mike."

Sara shook her head. "I'd never be happy with Mike. He's a good guy and he'd be a great stepfather for Emily, and a great husband, but there just isn't anything. No passion, no romance. I compare him with you, Nicky, and he falls short. Nobody ever measures up to you, Nick."

"Oh Sara." Nick leaned over and their lips met. Whatever passion had been missing with Mike, Sara found.

"Nick, I think we'd better move this to the bedroom." Quickly they moved to Sara's bedroom.

Sara handed Mike the velvet box. "I just can't." She was crying.

"Why not, Sara?"

"It wouldn't be fair to you Mike. My heart will always belong to Nick. And there will always be something between us and it's not fair to make you my second choice."

Mike sighed and nodded. "I understand Sara. Thank you for being honest."

"I'll see you around?"

"See you around." Mike confirmed.

Nick and Sara didn't see any reason to wait. They were married by a justice of peace the next week. Emily was all smiles.

They were a family again.

Epilogue: Eight and a half years later

Emily Stokes dropped her brother, Aaron, off at his friend, Billy's, house. "Bye Aaron!" She waved to her seven-year-old brother and drove home. As she opened the door and set her keys on the counter, she saw her parents hastily breaking apart.

"Nice guys." She smiled wryly. "Really, very attractive."

"Hey, we're married. It's our right." Nick stood and ruffled his daughter's hair. Emily pretended to be too old for her father's doting, but she loved it. For her sixteenth birthday he'd given her a brand-new GMC Denali to match the Denalis that Nick and Sara drove. It was fully equipped with a surround sound CD changer, GPS system, Sirus radio, and every gadget Emily could wish for. "Emily, would you mind setting the table?"

"Sure dad." Emily set the table while her dad served the food.

"Hey, Em, can you baby sit your brother next Friday? It's our anniversary." Sara took a bite of her pasta.

"Sure." Emily shrugged. "As long as you guys make a concerted effort to not make out on the couch anymore."

"Hey, at least I didn't marry Mike." Sara folded her arms.

"Yeah, good thing, since he turned out to be a felon." Emily laughed. "You know you never could've married him. You and dad were meant to be."

"Yes we were, Em. And someday you'll find a soulmate who fits you as well as your mother fits me." Nick took his wife's hand.

"Ew guys, can we keep the PDAs to a minimum?" Emily playfully grimaced.

"You said it yourself, Em. Your mom and I were just meant to be together."


End file.
